Until now, most yoga books for kids have been written for adults who intend to teach young students. Strike a Pose fills a gap in the market, offering a succinct overview of yoga and a detailed how-to guide that girls 10 and older can follow on their own.

This is the third book in the Planet Girl series. In keeping with the first two – Injeanuity, a book of sewing projects using denim, and Stuff to Hold Your Stuff, about making purses – this book includes a few projects. There are step-by-step instructions for making a bag for a yoga mat, sewing an eye pillow, and giving scented oil massages to a friend. I found this section the least interesting part of the book, an add-on overextending the book’s already ambitious scope.

For the most part, though, the book’s ambition is nicely realized. There are a few well-written paragraphs on the origins of yoga, a section on general guidelines and safety tips, and five sections containing sequences of poses, breathing practices, and suggestions for meditation. The author has selected poses and breathing exercises that are safe for everyone, and she explains them in pleasingly clear detail. The illustrations show a good understanding of the alignment of poses and the direction of movement in them.

Of course, none of this would work without the careful design of the book: its ring binding allows it to lie flat when open, and the page layouts, with their generous white space and attractive fonts, emanate a sense of peace and order.